Christie HILL Q19610

Christie HILL, a stockman was born in Bundaberg in 1877 and lived with his wife Elsie Williams Hill on Barambah Aboriginal Mission, now known as Cherbourg.

Christie was among 17 Aboriginal men who were recruited during a drive by the Queensland Recruiting Committee on 14 May 1917.

10 days later in Brisbane, during a patriot speech given by recruiting officer Lieutenant Colonel [Chaplain] David Garland, a line of Light Horsemen rode past each leading a riderless horse.

The 17 recently recruited men from Barambah took up these mounts in a [staged] demonstration of their patriotism and paraded along Queen Street to ‘considerable cheering.’

However their inclusion in the first AIF was short-lived. All 17 recruits were discharged just 30 days later on Wednesday, 13 June 1917, for “having been irregularly enlisted”.

The men were returned home to the mission, under escort, with out any receipt of payment or any discharge documents.

The AIF was brutal in its response when queried for their action – ‘a coloured man must have been associated with white people for some time prior to enlistment’ – and those who were considered too dark ‘would not make soldiers’.